New
by Luneve
Summary: Alice Grey is finally leaving her home in Aspertia City to begin her pokemon journey. Along with her new friends, Rosa and Hugh, and her pokemon, things are looking up. But with Team Plasma lurking in the shadows and a new champion who seems inclined to do more bad than good, will everything really turn out okay?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon!**

**Few quick things to keep in mind: the only OC's I have in here up to this point are Alice, her mother, her father, and Loki. I don't see Iris as champion material (she's too childish) so I created Loki. Keira is the playable girl from Pokemon Black and White and you'll learn more about what happened to her as the story goes on.**

**I like the show just fine, but this story will be game verse, so if Dawn/May/Iris or anyone else Ash traveled with in the show appears, their personalities will not correspond with their personalities in the show. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  
**

"Come on Hugh! You said you wanted to come with me to get my pokemon but you're taking _forever_! I'm just gonna leave you if you don't move it!" called a girl with strange donut-like buns in her hair as she jumped up and down impatiently.

"I know I just had to say bye to Mia, it's her first day at the trainer school you know!" shouted back a boy with equally strange raven-colored hair that somewhat resembled the body of a Qwilfish.

"Sister complex!" mocked donut-hair as she turned to run once more. The boy yelled something back at her but they were both too far away for the girl watching them to make out what he was saying.

The afore mentioned girl sighed sadly as she gazed out her bedroom window, letting her long, silvery-brown hair fall into her eyes. She knew the two teenagers she'd just seen a bit; they'd talked to her a couple of times over the years, mostly just because they were in the same age group, but they weren't really friends with her. She'd even forgotten what their names were, instead just referring to them by the their odd hairdos.

"Alice?" asked a soft voice, prompting the girl to turn around and face a woman who resembled the girl quite closely and was standing in the doorway.

"Mom, sorry, I got distracted, do you need something?" asked the girl, Alice, cheerily, plastering a semi-sincere smile on her face.

The older woman stared at her daughter with a slight frown on her face, feeling immense guilt wash over her. Since she was young, Alice adored pokemon, spending as much time as she could playing with pokemon around the town. The older woman knew nothing would make her daughter happier than getting a pokemon of her own, but Alice never said anything about it though she'd been eligible for six years now.

The woman, Hazel was her name, knew she was the reason her daughter never got her first pokemon. She'd even stopped talking about pokemon whenever she thought her mother could hear her.

Alice was a smart girl; she knew how her mother felt about pokemon after her husband left. To Hazel, pokemon meant leaving, journeying to far away places, and never coming back. She'd never explicitly asked her daughter to stay, but Alice understood anyway.

"Would you mind picking up a few things from the store for dinner?" asked Hazel, trying to clear her head of the thoughts that made her feel so guilty.

Alice nodded. "Sure, but are you okay mom?" she asked with concern, moving forward to get a better look at her mother.

"Oh no, I'm fine, just a bit tired," the woman lied with a small, fake smile.

Alice frowned, "mom, you're not having trouble sleeping again are you? Should I call the doctor?"

"Nothing like that, it's just old age," she explained, hoping to ease her daughter's worries. Judging by the skeptical look in Alice's eyes, she had not. "You worry about me too much pumpkin, I'm fine."

Alice looked at her mother for a couple more seconds before sighing. "Alright mom, but promise to tell me if there's anything wrong, okay?" she asked.

"Alright," replied her mom, used to making this promise. Satisfied, Alice finally left and Hazel was alone in her house with only her thoughts to keep her company once more.

She slipped down the stairs into the bedroom she'd shared with husband and opened his desk drawer, something she did almost every day now.

Inside, among the papers, pens, and other knick-knacks was a single basic red and white pokeball that seemed to glow when the light hit it. Tentatively, Hazel reached inside and picked up the tiny ball, cradling it in her hands.

The pokeball brought back bittersweet memories. Alice was only nine at the time her husband had come rushing home with the capturing device, doing a fairly poor job of concealing it from his daughter on his way to show his wife what he'd gotten.

Being a trainer himself, her husband was just as, if not more excited than Alice about the prospect of her first pokemon. Though he tenth birthday was still a year away, he couldn't stop himself from getting in touch with the man who'd given him his first pokemon, Professor Oak, and asking for one for his daughter. Though Hazel had suggested that Alice simply see Professor Juniper about her first pokemon, her husband was dead set on getting his daughter a Kanto pokemon. He'd moved to Unova without a fuss when Hazel married him, but he still held onto some Kanto pride and Hazel didn't have the heart to argue with him.

At that time, everyone expected Alice to begin her journey at ten, just like her father had, but fate had a nasty way of getting in the way. About four months before Alice's tenth birthday, he left the house to travel around a bit, as he was prone to do. He had a home and a family he loved, but the wanderlust never quite left him.

That had been seven years ago and he'd never come back.

Alice's tenth birthday had come and gone without the joy of a first pokemon, as did her next six birthdays. Hazel stared at the pokeball her husband had gotten for their daughter almost every night now; it was the same one she couldn't bring herself to give her sweet daughter for one simple reason: deep in Alice's clear green eyes that looked so much like her mother's was that very same wanderlust her husband had.

That look was the subject of every nightmare Hazel had since her husband had left and she simply couldn't let her daughter go, no matter how guilty it made her feel.

* * *

Marshal watched with a frown as his very last pokemon fell to the ground, unable to battle. The young woman whom had defeated him, immediately rushed to hug her victorious Reuniclus and jumped up and down with joy. He was her last opponent of the elite four and she was now free to move on and challenge the champion of the entire Unova Region. Marshal wanted to smile and congratulate her like he normally would when he was defeated, but this time he couldn't. No, this time he had to be the bearer of bad news.

"That was a stunning battle. You have proven yourself, earned my respect, and now deserve to challenge the champion," he said, making her already big smile widen even more, "but," he said with a small cough, watching her face fall almost immediately.

"But?" she prodded, looking extremely anxious.

"But the champion isn't…well, he isn't here right now," explained Marshal awkwardly.

"What?" Fionna-that was her name; he had forgotten for a couple of seconds-practically shrieked.

"The champion is very busy miss, I'm-

"Busy? With what?" she demanded, not lowering the volume of her voice and consequently making Marshal wince. At first she had been cute and bubbly; now…not so much. "This is his job! Do you know how hard I had to train to get here?"

"You are always welcome to come back another day to retry your challenge. I can make sure you get a discount on any medical supplies you-

"Retry? You've got to be kidding me! I have to redo this whole thing?" she asked, somehow looking even more terrifying. Her blob of jelly known as Reuniclus glared at him threateningly, eyes glowing slightly as if it were about to attack.

Marshal's turned his own eyes to his loyal Conkeldurr, who was lying battered on the floor in front of him after the long fight. The sight reminded the expert fighting-type trainer of his other incapacitated pokemon, dormant in their respective pokeballs; if a second fight were to break out, Marshal would have no protection. He gulped as he felt himself begin to sweat a bit, feeling very vulnerable all of sudden.

The tense atmosphere was broken by a sudden laugh and both elite four member and challenger turned to see a man leaning against one of the posts of the boxing ring.

"You looked nervous, Marshal; that's not like you," said the man in a deep, mocking voice.

Marshal gritted his teeth in response. He wouldn't rise to the bait and give into rage as he so often did when dealing with this particular person. Besides that, it was hardly good for publicity's sake to see anyone from the elite four arguing with the champion.

"How long have you been there and who are you?" snapped Fionna, still peeved as she scrutinized the odd man before her. He was fairly tall, standing a little over six feet with wild ink-black hair and a pair of deeply piercing dark blue eyes, currently shining with amusement. Despite the slight smile on his face, he was intimidating, but Fionna refused to cower at the sight of some guy.

"I've probably been here for…hm, I'm not sure actually," he spoke mostly to himself, ignoring the room's other occupants.

"Champion Loki, challenger Fionna has beaten the elite four and has earned the right to challenge you," said Marshal formally, hoping to get both of the irritating people out of his room as soon as possible.

"Champion?" asked Fionna, her voice a mixture of shock and confusion, "what about Keira?"

"The most _esteemed _and _heroic_ Keira," Loki drawled mockingly, "foolishly abandoned her duty to pursue a long lost love, the King of Team Plasma. It's shameful really, but what can you expect when you name a hormonal teenage girl champion? Anyway, I'm surprised you didn't hear about it; it was every gossip journalist's dream after all."

Marshal ground his teeth together in frustration. He and the rest of the elite four missed Keira to different extents, for she was a kind, lively, young woman. He didn't like hearing her be so blatantly insulted, but what Loki had said was right. Marhsal himself couldn't fathom why Keira had made such an idiotic move for the sake of a criminal!

Fionna grew angry again listening to him. He made her seem like she was some ignorant little girl just because she wasn't aware who the champion was. Granted it was fairly important, but she'd been out of towns for a little over a year now training in solitude! How could _she _know? "I know for a fact _you've_ never been in the news!" Fionna argued.

Loki simply shrugged, "I don't like press; if you looked closely though I believe my name was in an article some time ago."

Clenching her fists by her sides in order to suppress the urge to punch the league champion, Fionna looked Loki in the eyes and took a deep breath. "I want a battle," she declared officially.

"Of course you do, why else would you be here?" Loki asked, once again making Fionna feel embarrassed. He pushed himself off the post and strode slowly to the center of the ring where she and Marshal stood. "According to the rules, I'm required to accept all challenges I receive, so I hope you withdraw your challenge," he said with a smile.

"Wha?" Fionna asked in shock. Was the champion really refusing her?

"You see, I'm bound to fight if you wish it to be so, and you're bound to lose rather quickly. Wouldn't it be better to just retire now and not waste my time?" he asked cruelly.

Marshal sighed, hoping the two would continue their conversation somewhere else, such as the champion's battlefield.

Once Fionna had gotten over the initial surprise, she was absolutely livid. "How can you say that? You have no way of knowing who would win!" she shouted, "I refuse to retire!"

Now it was Loki's turn to sigh in exasperation. Why couldn't his challengers just realize the futility of their battles with him?

Fionna held back a scream as the ground disappeared beneath her feet. Not just the ground though, the bright spotlights that surrounded Marshal's ring were gone as well, in fact, the whole room had disappeared! After a few seconds Fionna saw the ground rush up at her and landed without much grace on her behind.

"Not used to teleporting?" asked Loki's mocking voice from behind her.

Ignoring his rather rude remark, Fionna stood up and took in her surroundings. She was surrounded by columns on all sides that seemed to stand at least 50 feet tall and everything, including the floor was made with a gold-colored marble. Fionna had heard legends some time in her childhood that the room-or plaza rather, was built by an ancient civilization of giants long before the pokemon league of Unova decided to build their castle below it. At the time the idea had seemed farfetched at best, but as she gazed upon the magnificence that surrounded her, she found herself swayed.

"Speechless?" asked the champion, bringing Fionna out of her daze. She turned to look back at the irritating man but to her surprise, he was not where he had been when he first teleported. She swiveled around and spotted him lounging comfortably on a golden throne covered in beautifully intricate designs and draped with swaths of dark blue silk.

If she hadn't been speechless before, she certainly was now. Loki sat regally on his throne, smirking down at her with amusement dancing in his piercing eyes once more. She had been angry before so she hadn't paid much attention to him physically but now that she had calmed down she felt her cheeks heat up and her heart quicken. Loki was attractive without a doubt, with chiseled features, a crooked smile, smoldering eyes, and a tall, lean body, but that's not what made her practically swoon; Fionna had seen drop-dead gorgeous guys before, but Loki was different. He grinned like her knew her thoughts, spoke like he expected her to bend to his every desire, and moved like he owned everything. In short, he was a king; the only thing missing was his crown.

Who was she in his eyes? Sadly, she knew the answer: a plain girl from a backwater town who hardly deserved to be in his presence. Fionna swallowed hard and forced herself to meet his gaze. Where had all her previous confidence gone?

"Please b-battle me!" she declared once more, flinching at her own stutter that heightened his amusement.

"I admire your persistence; weaker people would have left by now," he drawled, "but it's still much too earlier to consider yourself strong, especially more so than me." He stood up and stared her down from across the soon-to-be battleground.

Fionna couldn't find her voice to respond and instead drew a shaky hand to the pokeballs in her bag, feeling slightly more poised once she finally gripped one of the tiny capsules. She'd been battling for so long, and no matter how different her opponent was, this was just another battle.

"Stoutland!" she called, throwing the pokeball into the air and smiling slightly when the large dog-like pokemon stood proudly in front of her.

Loki grinned wickedly. This pokemon would be the first to fall.

* * *

Alice strolled down the familiar cobblestone sidewalks after purchasing everything her mother would need to make dinner. She wasn't heading home quite yet though.

No, Alice was heading to her favorite place in the town. It wasn't anything much, just a small little area that had a pretty view of the world beyond. After going so many times the view had become less spectacular and the place itself less charming, but she still went, mostly out of habit.

She climbed the worn-down steps with ease but paused when she neared the top. Almost no one in town went to her special area. Every now and then there was a nostalgic townsperson or enthusiastic tourist, seeing as it was one of the oldest places in town, but that was it. So why did she hear voices?

"-odge and tackle!" commanded one voice.

"Oshawott, shake it off and use tail whip!" said a second voice. Intrigued, Alice poked her head up a bit so she could see the battle.

Two pokemon, one blue and one orange, dashed around the plaza in a light-hearted skirmish. Alice immediately recognized them as Oshawott and Tepig, two of the three starters from the Unova region. They traded blows evenly despite the type advantage Oshawott had, for both seemed rather inexperienced. All the two really knew how to do was tackle and dodge, hardly interesting or powerful moves, yet the looks on the faces of the rookie trainers were of pure excitement.

Alice quickly found herself entranced as well, looking back and forth to keep up with the energetic starters. She was so preoccupied with the match that she didn't even notice the green hat-wearing young woman staring at her with slight curiosity in her emerald eyes.

Alice continued to view the battle with fascination until the Oshawott landed a lucky blow, knocking the Tepig unconscious. The victorious water type jumped for joy at its first victory and walked proudly over to its trainer, the spiky-haired teen. Meanwhile donut-hair rushed to pick up her first pokemon. It woke in her arms and she beamed at it, praising and cooing until the fiery pig looked just as proud as its opponent.

A smile graced Alice's lips at the sight even though her heart sank. Seeing new trainers always had that effect on her. She wanted so badly to have what they got to have and do what they got to do, but those were desires she needed suppress, and better yet, forget all together. With a heavy sigh, Alice turned on her heel and began to descend the cobblestone staircase.

"Excuse me! You, you with the long brown hair!" a voice called from behind her..

Alice searched around for someone who met the description until she realized, feeling rather foolish, that _she_ was the one being referred to. The young woman in the green hat was the one who had spoken and now was rushing down the stairs.

"Yes?" Alice asked politely, not quite sure why she'd been stopped, but slightly embarrassed all the same. Was it wrong to watch the battle? It was going on in a public area-she couldn't be faulted.

The young woman was still quite a few stairs away, her blonde bob bouncing with each step she took towards the brunette. "I saw you watching those two battle," she began, hopping down a couple more steps, "and it struck me that," one more step until she reached Alice, "maybe you'd like to battle?" The blonde was smiling brightly at her now, having completed her descent.

"Sorry, I don't have any pokemon," Alice explained with a small, courteous smile, expecting that to be the end of their already short conversations.

"No pokemon?" asked the woman in slight shock. She'd been so sure the girl before her was a pokemon lover based on the way her eyes lit up at the sight of the Oshawott and Tepig. Maybe she just didn't have the opportunity to get one? "That's it! How would you like one?" she asked, beaming.

"What? I c-

"Nonsense! I'd give you this Snivy but it's Professor Juniper's pokemon and I'm supposed to deliver him to another new trainer; however," she said, rummaging around in her bag, "I _do_ have-ah! Found it!" she exclaimed producing an odd looking pokeball. Well, it wasn't that strange really, but the normally red part of the ball was bright silver instead. Alice had certainly never seen a pokeball like it before. Sensing Alice's question, the young woman cheerily piped up, "it's just paint. This pokemon's old owner liked to do that kind of thing."

"Old owner?" Alice asked, worried it was stolen or something.

"Well, yeah, see besides from being Professor Juniper's assistant, I also try to help pokemon that are being mistreated when I can. This particular pokemon has basically been treated like a collector's item, so when I found her I just had to do something. She's still very nervous around people, but I'm sure that won't be a problem after a few weeks," she said cheerily, thrusting the pokeball into Alice's hands.

"But I-

"Oh! How could I forget? My name is Belle! What's your name?" she asked.

"Alice, but-

"Alice, then? I hereby declare you this pokemon's new trainer!" exclaimed Belle with a bright smile.

"Alice? You're getting a pokemon today too?" asked a different female voice before Alice could tell Belle she couldn't take the pokemon.

Both Belle and Alice turned to see donut-hair and qwilfish-head approaching them, though it was donut-hair who asked the question.

Once again, before Alice could say anything, Belle cut her off. "Yup! It's not a typical starter, but it'll do just fine! Not everyone can start with Tepig, Oshawott, or Snivy!"

"So what'd you get?" asked Qwilfish-head, now very much intrigued. All eyes were on Alice now and though it was the perfect opportunity to set everything straight, she couldn't help her curiosity regarding the pokemon-_her_ pokemon-inside the silver ball. Putting her worries to the side if only for this moment, Alice pressed the button on the front of the ball, releasing the tiny creature from inside.

After a moment, standing-or rather, hiding-behind Belle's leg was a small, very furry looking pokemon with long, dropping ears. It was shaking and its eyes were darting around frantically as if it was looking for an escape route. Alice saddened slightly at the sight, realizing it was truly traumatized.

"Is it an Eevee?" asked Qwilfish-head.

Belle nodded emphatically. "Mmhm, she's a little bit special though. See her fur? It's more of a milky white and silver color than the usual light brown. That's why she was so sought after by collectors."

"Poor thing," donut-hair cooed, leaning over to pet the small, scared pokemon, only to retract her hand immediately with a yelp of pain. Two seconds later she was sucking on the side of her hand looking quite put off. "She bit me! I didn't even do anything!" she declared indignantly.

Qwilfish-head rolled his eyes. "It was probably your face," he deadpanned, earning a smack in the head from his friend.

Ignoring the pair's squabble, Belle returned her attention to Alice. "Don't be shy! Come meet her!"

Alice nodded and slowly kneeled on the ground near the discolored Eevee. It growled softly in warning as Alice approached but Alice wouldn't be deterred. She simply stayed where she was until the Eevee stopped growling and then continued her approach.

"I won't hurt you," Alice assured the pokemon quietly. The Eevee wasn't comforted very much by her words but Alice was finally only mere inches from touching the pokemon.

Sure enough, the Eevee's discomfort showed and it bit Alice's hand as it had donut-hair's. Instead of recoiling as the latter had done though, Alice saw the opportunity to use her left hand and calmly rested it on the top of the Eevee's head.

The tiny pokemon froze at the sudden contact, but after a few moments, she released Alice's hand and the young woman smiled softly in response.

"See? She's really sweet at heart!" Belle squealed in excitement. "To tell you the truth I didn't think I'd ever find a trainer for this girl, so I'm so glad I ran into you!"

Alice smiled at her, continuing to pet the timid Eevee. She'd wanted a pokemon for so long and this Eevee needed a patient trainer. She could be that trainer. She wouldn't need to leave home to go on a journey either, no matter how much she secretly wanted to. Her mother needed her to stay, but so long as she _did_ stay, it was okay for her to get a pokemon. It wasn't like her mother had explicitly forbid her from getting one…"You'd really let me have her?" she asked, beaming when Belle nodded enthusiastically. "I'm not sure if…I mean, I really would love to be her trainer, but my mom-

"Oh! You need your parents' okay, right? Well, let's just go get it!" exclaimed Belle, dashing down the steps. "Better hurry, I need you to lead the way!"

Alice nodded and turned to the Eevee once more. Belle hadn't given her the pokeball and the pokemon probably wouldn't have liked it if she suddenly picked her up…As Alice pondered what to do with the Eevee, the small pokemon surprised her by hopping down a few steps and then looking back at her purposefully. Alice found herself smiling involuntarily once more as she took the lead with the Eevee-_her_ Eevee-trailing behind her.

"Hey Alice!" called donut-hair from above.

Alice looked up at her and cocked her head to the side curiously. Qwilfish-head had somehow disappeared, but donut-hair seemed unfazed.

"Sorry to hold you up, but I just wanted to say-well, I know we don't know each other very well, but I think it means something special that we all got pokemon on the same day! Hugh and I are going to be starting our journeys soon, so we won't be around, but I'd still like it if we could try to be friends," explained donut-hair, stumbling over her words a bit.

Alice was caught off guard by her sudden outburst and simply nodded dumbly.

Despite her lackluster response, donut-hair smiled so wide it had to hurt. "It's a promise then! And I, Rosa Joven White, _always_ keep my promises!" On that note, donut-hair turned around and darted out of sight. Given the tiny growls and other such noises coming from the plateau once more only moments after the odd girl's disappearance, Alice felt it was safe to assume that Qwilfish-head and donut-hair, no, Hugh and Rosa were once again battling.

"Alice! Come on!" called Belle impatiently. Alice could see her tapping her foot on the ground while she waited at the bottom of the stairs.

Alice expected to see Eevee waiting next to the energetic blonde, but instead was surprised to see that she chose to stick by her new trainer. The small gesture made Alice break into another smile.

"Coming!" Alice shouted back, dashing down the stairs with Eevee on her heels.

* * *

Fionna fell to her knees, vaguely registering the dull pain when her knees hit the hard marble. It didn't matter anyway; all her pokemon, now unconscious in their respective pokeballs, had endured much more pain.

Her eyes stung with tears she was loath to shed in front of anyone, especially the champion. She wished she could just melt into a puddle on the ground or simply disappear, for she knew the walk back down the stairs she had not gotten to climb would be miserable and embarrassing.

"As champion of the Unova region it is my duty to put those unfit to stand here back in their rightful place, and you," he spoke slowly, punctuating every biting word, "are unfit."

* * *

**And that's chapter 1! Give me your opinions, I'd love to get some feedback! **

**For those wondering why I didn't use White for the name of the heroine in bw, it's because I played Pokemon Black and consider her to have the dark name while the boy has the light name. Keira means darkness so I went with that. On the other hand, I played White 2 as Mei/Rosa so I gave her White as a last name. Joven means young in Spanish. I wanted the middle name to be second, young or something to play on the whole second gen thing, but in the end I just went with the Spanish meaning of young because I always thought Rosa sounded Spanish and I was tired of looking for a better name. I do not actually speak Spanish myself (Latin ftw) so if Joven is wrong, please correct me. It wouldn't be the first time google translate lied to me.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon**

**Sorry for the long wait and thank you Pure Game and drake22ice for your reviews! In response, I'd like to say that I'll try from now on to be more descriptive and use commas :) **

Hazel dropped the pokeball she'd been looking at when she heard a knock at the door. She cursed silently when it rolled underneath her bed and quickly got to her knees to try and reach it.

"Just a minute!" she called to the knocker, feeling around desperately for the tiny capsule. Her fingers brushed something small and round, but when she grabbed hold of it and brought it into the light, she saw that it was just a regular toy ball.

The person at the door knocked again and Hazel sighed in frustration. "I'll be there soon!" she shouted, aggravation slipping into her voice. She continued to grope around for the pokeball and grinned triumphantly when her hand closed around a second small ball. Clutching it firmly so she wouldn't drop it this time, she pulled it out from under the bed.

Unfortunately, her supposed success was short-lived. As she took a closer look at the pokeball, she realized her thumb had hit the button to release the pokemon from its capsule. She groaned in aggravation and relented to answering the door. She'd return to her search for the now-escaped pokemon after she dealt with her visitor.

She swung open the heavy oak door and came face to face with and young blonde woman wearing bright red glasses and a lime green beret. She had her fist raised, ready to beat on the door once more, but upon seeing the older woman, she lowered it and broke into a face-splitting smile.

"Can I help you?" Hazel asked, doing her best to conceal her irritation. Judging by the young woman's slightly confused face, she had failed. Hazel took a deep breath and tried again. "Sorry, I'm in a bit of a bad mood."

The young woman nodded understandingly and opened her mouth to speak just as Alice appeared down the street, running at full speed with a silver-white blur at her heels. It only took her daughter a few seconds to arrive at the doorstep, but she was completely out a breath.

"I didn't…tell you…where my house was…so you…could run off without…me," said Alice between pants.

The woman in the green beret gave her daughter a sheepish smile but quickly returned her attention to Hazel.

"Right, sorry," she said quickly and hardly apologetically, "anyway, Mrs…"

"Grey," Hazel offered. She looked to her daughter once more and caught sight of the silver-white blur again, hiding behind Alice's leg. She tilted her head to the left to see that it was a small pokemon. Hazel tried not to look surprised, but she felt her mouth fall open as she outright gaped at the tiny creature.

Alice noticed her mother's shocked expression and stared at her feet in shame. Seeing her daughter so downcast made Hazel feel guilty immediately and she schooled her face into a polite smile.

"Mrs. Grey," the blonde continued, "I'm Belle, assistant to Pokemon Professor Juniper in Nuvema Town-it's at the end of route one. I just came to town to give Hugh and Rosa-the two teens with the crazy hair-their first pokemon, courtesy of the professor-they chose Oshawott and Tepig by the way-oh! How stupid of me, you don't need to hear all this right? Right! So I'll make a short story even shorter: I gave your daughter her first pokemon!" Belle accompanied this announcement with enthusiastic jazz hands as she stepped aside to showcase Alice and a tiny pokemon that Hazel had only ever seen once.

"Is that an…Eevee?" she asked, dumbfounded by the pokemon's odd coloring.

Belle nodded vigorously. "Yes ma'am, this pokemon is what trainers all over have begun to call 'shiny' pokemon. It means they are discolored. See, this Eevee is silver, but a normal Eevee is brown, therefore this Eevee is shiny," Belle explained in detail.

* * *

Alice watched her mom continue to gawk at Eevee and felt her heart sink. She was certain now that her mother would never allow her to have a pokemon. She should have known that before now though; really, it was a stupid idea. Besides, she didn't need a pokemon; she could be perfectly happy without one, just like she was before…

She swallowed painfully around a lump forming in her throat and forced herself to move her right hand-the hand clutching the silver pokeball. She thrust it towards Belle without speaking, hoping she would just take it and leave.

Belle stared at her in confusion and Alice cleared her throat once before speaking, though she didn't completely trust her voice. "Here," she said, punctuating her words by shoving the pokeball into the bespectacled woman's hands, "I can't keep this."

Now Belle looked thoroughly perplexed but before she could question Alice's actions, the young woman walked quickly past her mother and into the house, leaving Belle, Hazel, and the discolored pokemon to stand awkwardly in the doorway.

Alice was not rude enough to demand that Belle leave, but she truly hoped the slightly ditzy woman would take the hint and depart on her own. She stood on the stairs, out of sight, waiting to hear the door close, and eventually, she heard its soft click accompanied by her mother's footsteps as she walked into the kitchen.

Alice was overcome once more by the urge to cry, but she refused to give into it. She had a wonderful, loving mother; why should she be sad? Really, she didn't need a pokemon; there were plenty of other things she could do besides become a trainer. Maybe she'd start a garden! Or maybe she'd write a book; she'd always wanted to test her skills as an author.

Even as these optimistic thoughts ran through her head, Alice's mood darkened further and tears were now stinging her eyes. She was being selfish. Her mother had given her everything she'd wanted and how did she repay her? By bringing home the very thing that reminded her mother of the husband that had left them long ago. She truly was the worst, most ungrateful daughter.

Just as she turned, her shoulders sagging lower than normal, to retreat to her room, Alice heard a loud crash that sounded like it came from the kitchen.

"Mom?" she called out worriedly, dashing back down the stairs.

"Don't come in sweetie!" Hazel called back quickly. A large door closed off the kitchen area from the rest of the house and in spite of her mother's protests, Alice debated entering.

"Mom, what happened?" asked Alice urgently, eying the doorknob.

"Oh, I just dropped a plate! There's glass all over the floor in here and I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself!" Hazel replied.

"I'll put on my shoes and help you clean it up," said Alice, already moving towards the small cubby area she had practically thrown her shoes into upon entering the house.

"No!"

Alice was getting more concerned with every frantic word Hazel spoke. Ignoring her mother's orders, Alice slipped on her shoes and wrenched open the kitchen door. She only had a few seconds to survey the room, taking in her frazzled mother and the sorry state of a few of their dishes, before a sudden blast of icy water blinded her and pushed her out of the kitchen.

She stumbled backwards a few feet before falling ungracefully on her butt, soaked and bewildered. Through the now open kitchen door she could see the source of the water: a turtle-like pokemon almost two feet tall, dancing around the room and evading her mother's frenzied attempts to grab it.

Alice was sure that the pokemon looked familiar. As she continued to stare at it, she felt memories she kept locked away in her mind slowly resurfacing. She remembered her father proudly sharing the contents of his old pokedex with her. She was only four at the time and he was explaining the concept of a starter pokemon. Being a Kanto native, he talked primarily about the Kanto starters: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and _Squirtle_. Her father had liked Charmander-the fire type-best and had a Charizard of his own, but Alice had told him she thought Squirtle was the cutest.

The memory brought a smile to Alice's shivering lips though she was still confused why there was a Squirtle in her house. How had a rare pokemon from a different region appeared in Unova? Granted, she'd heard of foreign pokemon showing up in different areas throughout the region, but she was certain that the starter pokemon each region offered were native solely to its own region.

"Finally!" cried her mother triumphantly, clutching a dusty pokeball in her hands.

Her mother's words roused Alice from her thoughts and she pushed herself off the ground with little effort.

"Mom?" she questioned, hoping for some sort of explanation.

"Alice! Sweetie, are you okay?" she asked, rushing towards her daughter to make sure she hadn't sustained any injuries.

"Just wet," Alice replied dismissively, "why was there a Squirtle in our house?"

Alice watched her mother chew her lip, a nervous habit that she herself had inherited somewhere within the sixteen years she'd lived thus far. The silence dragged on and Alice was convinced her mother would avoid the question at this point. Much to her surprise, her mother did not change the subject at all.

"It-no, he's yours," Hazel began, studying her daughter's reaction closely. Alice's eyes widened but she didn't speak, waiting for her mother to continue. Hazel turned the small ball over in her hands, brushing off dust in the process. "Your father got him for you…he was supposed to be your tenth birthday present."

"My tenth?" Alice wondered aloud.

Her mother nodded guiltily and her words came out in a rush. "I'm so sorry sweetie; I just…I couldn't give him to you. You've been so strong for me and I'm so proud of you, but I just couldn't watch you leave too!"

"I wouldn't have left," Alice said softly. The words tasted bitter in her mouth. She understood her mother's actions, but she couldn't get rid of the sudden feeling of betrayal-betrayal and anger. Her eyes were trained on the floor and she realized that her hands were clenched in twin fists, shaking at her sides.

"You would have," her mother argued back, her voice full of certainty. It hurt Alice more that her mother thought so little of her. She loved her mom deeply; she knew her mother needed her-she would have stayed! Alice hadn't spoken but somehow her mother seemed to know what she was thinking. "Alice, if I'd given you a pokemon, you may have stayed, but you'd be miserable. You're just like your father in that way. He loved you and me dearly, but he still left from time to time to simply wander the world. You've got that same look in your eyes he always had and I just know that if you had the mean to go on your very own journey, not only would you want to go, I'd let you do it."

Hazel's words surprised both Alice and herself. Before Alice could speak, Hazel continued. "I'd let you do it," she repeated, as if testing the truth in her words. "I would," she said again, mystified. Her blue eyes, which had clouded over when she first realized what she'd said, grew sharp once more as they landed on her daughter.

"Alice, look at me," she said firmly, waiting for her daughter's glassy green eyes to meet hers. Alice slowly raised her head and realized her mother was shaking now as well. "Do you want to leave?"

"Mom, you need me here; I can't-

"Don't think about me!" Hazel snapped, her voice cracking slightly, "I'm a grown woman and you're a sixteen year old girl. _I_ should be taking care of _you_. And _you_ should be going off on adventures and doing what you want to do." Hazel paused, frowning slightly as she considered her own actions since her husband had left.

"I've been a bad mother," she said, ignoring Alice's protests, "I haven't asked you what you wanted in seven years because I was scared I knew what the answer was." Hazel paused once more and took a deep breath. "I'm asking you now, and I want you to answer me honestly."

Alice stood, still dripping tiny droplets of frigid water but hardly caring. She couldn't believe what her mom was saying and her mind was racing. And yet, she began to speak, not sure what she herself was saying until the words were out for both of them to hear. "I want to go."

Shocked at her own words, Alice watched her mother's face, waiting to see the telltale signs of sadness. They were there-in the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes and the small crinkle in her brow, but they were accompanied by a bright smile that seemed all too real. Hazel engulfed her daughter in a crushing hug, letting a few tears snake their way down her cheeks.

"That girl, Belle, she said she'd be hear a bit longer in case you change your mind," said Hazel, releasing her daughter from her embrace.

"Mom-

"Don't argue with me Alice; I want you to be happy," said Hazel, giving her daughter a genuine smile. "Now, take this," she said, thrusting the pokeball containing Squirtle into Alice's hands, "and go find that girl! I'll start packing your bag and you'll leave tomorrow morning!"

Alice broke out into a smile of her own and rushed to the door. She gripped the handle but turned back to her mother one last time. "I love you, mom, thank you."

Hazel laughed. "I know, sweetie, I love you too. Now, go!"

**So, I expect to do this more than once, but for now I want to ask those reading who are interested to submit an original character. I'm looking for a rival for Alice. Hugh and Rosa are sort of rivals for her, but I consider them each other's rival more than anything so I'd like to create a rival just for Alice. I've got no guidelines really except that I expect the rival to be about the same age as Alice. I'd like a general description of what the character looks like and an idea of his/her personality. All in all, I'm curious what kind of person those reading think would be a good rival.**

**Thanks for reading! Feedback is always welcome!  
**


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